The S'more Competition the Better

What could be better than camping in the great outdoors? Camping at a Barbeque Cookout Competition in a beautiful park on a hot, sunny weekend! With a slight breeze to cool you down from the blazing sun and raging smokers lined up for acres, there really is no better way to spend a Friday and Saturday.

For the past few weeks, I have been lending a hand to the Ribs Within BBQ Team (Ribswithin.com). I have also had some fun working on grilled desserts for the Friday evening dessert competitions. We have been very successful (won third place twice!!) with the Deconstructed S’more Cheesecake Parfait and I would like to share the recipes for each of the unique, complementary components. They create a flavor experience as if you were toasting the marshmallows fireside at every bite.

As always measurements are in volume and grahams! Haha pun definitely intended.

Smoked Cheesecake

This simple, stable, rich cheesecake recipe is an absolute staple for your recipe box. The batter can be mixed in advance and refrigerated but is easy enough to whip up in a jiffy.

Yield: 1, 4” thick, 9” cheesecake; 36 cheesecake cupcakes; or 1, 3” thick, 13”x9” cheesecake

Tools: stand or hand mixer, rubber scraper

Ingredients:

4, 8 oz packages	1816 grams	Cream Cheese
2 cups	400 grams	Granulated Sugar or Brown Sugar
¼ cup + 2 Tbsp.	60 grams	Cornstarch
4 each	200 grams	Eggs
1 tsp.	5 grams	Vanilla Extract
1 2/3 cup	363 grams	Heavy Cream
2 tsp.	1 tsp.	Smoked Salt (optional)

1.      Preheat oven/grill to 325^oF. Spray pan with non-stick cooking spray.

2.      Measure or scale ingredients out.

3.      Using the paddle attachment, mix cream to soften and smooth out lumps, about 3 minutes. Scrape down sides often.

4.      Mix together sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl.

5.      Add sugar mixture, cream together until soft and smooth, about 5 minutes.

6.      Add eggs one at a time, mixing on medium speed until emulsified before adding the next, about 30 seconds each.

7.      On low speed slowly stream in vanilla and cream, mix until cheesecake batter is uniform, about 3 minutes.

8.      Pour batter into prepared pan. Place on grill*, such as a Weber and close lid, but allow it to vent for airflow. A small piece of applewood to create a more intense smoky flavor.

*It is important to use some mechanism to block direct heat such as a stone above the coals or double/triple panning the cheesecake.

Spicy Ganache

This adds a velvety, hot kick to the parfait.

Yield: 1 cup or  205 grams

Tools: large pot, wooden spoon or rubber scraper, wire whisk, small bowl

Ingredients:

1/2 cup	100 grams	Semisweet, chopped
1/3 cup	100 grams	Heavy Cream
1  Tbsp.	2 grams	Chili Powder
1 tsp	1 tsp.	White Pepper Powder
pinch	pinch	Salt

1.      Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl.

2.      Bring remaining ingredients to a simmer, remove from heat, pour over chocolate.

3.      Allow to sit 30 seconds, stir or whisk until smooth. Refrigerate ½ hour or until semisoft.

4.      When ready to use, heat until room temperature.

*Darker chocolates mask spicy flavors so if you switch to chocolates with less percent cocoa such as milk or white chocolate, not only will your ganache be too soft, but the filling will be too spicy.

Graham Cracker Brittle

This brittle recipe is great with graham crackers but also can be poured over saltines, cookies, or even matzo! Sometimes, I even put chocolate chips on top of the hot, freshly poured brittle and allow it to melt, creating a super tasty chocolate brittle bark.

Yield: 1 cup or 270 grams

Tools: Sauté pan, 7” round foil dish or 3”x6” foil loaf pan

Ingredients:

¼ cup	113 grams	Butter
½ cup	120 grams	Brown Sugar
2 rectangle pieces	31 grams	Graham Cracker, crushed
½ tsp.	½ tsp.	Ribs Within Rub 4 All

1.      Spray a foil loaf pan with non-stick pan spray.

2.      Sprinkle graham crackers and Rub 4 All onto bottom of pan.

3.      Cook butter and brown sugar in a medium sauté pan for 1 minute or until desired caramelization.

4.      Pour over graham crackers and allow to set overnight, do not press, jerk, or move brittle pan because agitation will cause it to crystallize.

5.      When set, pulverize into pea size pieces.

Wingin’ It! Graham Cracker Crumble

For this easy crumble simply put crushed graham cracker and granulated sugar in a sauté pan, about a 2:1 ratio. Heat on medium high until the sugar caramelizes, gently move the crumble about the pan with a silicon or heat resistant rubber scraper.

Wingin’ It! Graham Cracker Whiskey Sauce

For this boozy sauce, you start with the same method as the crumble above but the graham crackers should be crushed finely. With about 2 Tbsp. of fine crumble in the pan, heat on medium with about 2 tsp. of heavy cream, whisking until it resembles the texture of a roux (pasty). You may need to add another tsp. of heavy cream to get the crumble to soften. Remove from heat. Add cream until it is the viscosity of a creamy soup. Then add 1-2 oz. of whiskey (I use Southern Comfort because it’s sweet), and stir until combined. You can add a little brown sugar or Sugar in the Raw syrup to sweeten the sauce and add body. Simply put, you can doctor this sauce to your liking by adjusting the amount of cream, whiskey, and sugar.

Meringue

This is a simple recipe for a common meringue.

Yield: Enough!

Tools: Stand mixer or hand mixer with whip attachment, small bowl

Ingredients:

3 each	100 grams	Egg Whites
½ cup	100 grams	Granulated Sugar

1.      Make sure bowl is clean and grease free or the meringue will not whip to full volume.

2.      Whip whites on high speed until frothy, then move to medium speed and begin to reign in the sugar (sprinkle in a slow rate) until it is all incorporated.

3.      Whip until meringue has a stiff peak (once you stop the machine and take the whip out).

*Do not make this too far ahead in advance, after about 5 minutes, the meringue begins to get crumbly. Overnight the egg whites get soggy.

Bringing it All Together

 Combine the crumble and brittle; make sure the pieces are no larger than a pea. In a 4 oz. dessert dish, put 2 tsp. of crumble. Pipe a thin line of spicy ganache around the edges and spiraled to the center. Then, put 1 ½ ounce of cheesecake, spread to the sides of the pan. Sprinkle 2 tsp. of crumble followed by spicy ganache in the same manner as before. Make sure the layers are even across the dish. Put another ½ oz. or 1 Tbsp. of cheesecake, spread to the sides again. Using a small, tapered spatula, put meringue into remainder of the dish and spread it so that the meringue is flush with the top edge of the dish. Don’t bother cleaning off the edges, simply rim them with the finer pieces of the crumble. Pipe spicy ganache in a zig-zag across the dish and put 1 tsp. of graham cracker whiskey sauce in a dollop right in the center. Put 1 tsp. of crumble on top of the whiskey sauce. Garnish with a nice delicate chocolate garnish (Directions for the leaf garnish follow, sorry for the chocolaty mess in the photos).

1. Work on parchment on a flat surface (or if your desperate like me, press n' seal covered mini cutting boards).

2. Put a leaf shaped dollop of chocolate.

 3. Place chocolate comb in the center of the leaf. 

 4. Comb the chocolate out and around so that the "veins" of the leave curve out and back up towards the top of the leaf.

 5. Repeat for opposite side but be sure to leave a little chocolate un-combed in the center to maintain structure of the garnish. 

 6. use the flat edge of the comb to pull the outer vein up and around to form a leaf tip as shown in the next few pictures.

 7. Repeat for other side. After filling your space with several leaves, freeze them and gently remove them from the paper/plastic when you are ready.